Word of the merger was initially reported by The Information on 24 February 2020. The report adds that management from both firms have met occasionally over the past two years, with Grab President Ming Maa and Gojek CEO Andre Soelistyo were said to have met earlier this month for the latest round of talks.
Following up on this claim, DealStreetAsia and Tech in Asia reached out to both Grab and Gojek for comment, but only received a response from the latter. “There are no plans for any sort of merger, and recent media reports regarding discussions of this nature are not accurate,” said the Gojek spokesperson. Even if the companies are able to reach an agreement, it’s a given that they will still face major regulatory complications after the union. Furthermore, there’s also the issue of which party will be in control of the combined entity, which could result in a potential deal-breaker. Grab’s biggest shareholder, SoftBank, was reportedly planning a merger of payment firms to surpass Gojek in the Indonesian market. Meanwhile, the latter was revealed by Entrepreneur Development Minister Redzuan Yusof that Cabinet has agreed to allow the bike-hailing service to be implemented in Malaysia back in August 2019. (Source: The Information via Deal Street Asia / Tech in Asia.)
